Last night at 8 pm IST India’s Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi announced a nationwide lockdown for 21 days to contain the spread of COVID-19 within the country. While listening to this, I felt that 21 days is too long a time for a lot of people to be lockdown indoors. Right at that moment, a thought crossed my mind; “Don’t they say that a person can form a new habit in a minimum of 21 days?”
A lot of studies have been done around the claim that a person can form a new habit in a minimum of 21 days. Many studies have found that the number of days varies depending on the individual, the complexity of the task and the circumstances. However, one common finding across all studies was that it takes multiple repetitions to form a new habit.
The current extraordinary situation, that we all are faced with, has forced us into this 21 days lockdown. During this time, we all are going to have to readjust and realign our routines/schedules/habits. A lot of us have been trying to build new habits in our life but have been caught in our daily routines and have been unsuccessful in doing so. This lockdown gives us the perfect opportunity to make enough repetitions required to inculcate a new habit in our life.
Now, let’s not try to do a complete overhaul of our daily routine or habits since it will be difficult to sustain it in the long run. New habits need to be sustained even after our routine sneakily catches upon us after the lockdown is over. The more the number of habits we try to build at the same time, the more difficult it will be for us and the more likely we are to fail.
In his book, The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg talks about the Habit Loop (Cue/Routine/Reward) and how the pattern will unfold automatically once the loop is created and repetitions have been made. We can create a Habit Stack to group together small changes with our preexisting habits/routines. Combine these two strategies and we get our 4 Easy Steps to make New Habits:
Step 1: Identify existing habits that can be used to which can complement the new habit
Step 2: Use the end of that existing habit as the Cue to Initiate the Routine of the new habit
Step 3: Complete the New Habit Routine
Step 4: The new Routine Outcome is the Reward (If desired, other rewards can be determined)
Don’t be demoralized if there are misses in following these steps. Missing out on the new routine once or twice doesn’t make a significant impact on creating a long-term habit. Use any failure as a learning opportunity to strengthen the strategy and creating methods of following the steps.
It doesn’t matter how long it takes to create a habit. What is required to be successful in creating new habits is that we keep making those repetitions. As long as we commit ourselves to make small incremental steps in incorporating the change in our lives and keep repeating our new habits, we will create new habits that allow us to be more successful and be better versions of ourselves.
Here’s to a New Habit enabling Lockdown!
Stay Indoors! Stay Safe!! Stay Healthy!!!
This article was first published on LinkedIn on Wednesday, March 25, 2020